SOUTHAMPTON’s Mayflower Theatre and the MAST Mayflower Studios have launched a public awareness campaign, aimed at encouraging kind and respectful audience behaviour towards theatre staff. A series of posters and digital screens around both venues will picture individual friendly and dedicated team members, with reminders of appropriate behaviour, with a personal touch. Michael Ockwell, the…
THE hilariously funny, cuddly, wry and inspired Howard Coggins, best known in the south west as co-founder of Living Spit and nationally for his Lottery adverts, has died at the age of 52. He was diagnosed with cancer late in 2022. Frustrated with playing bit parts in other people’s shows, Howard and Stu McLoughlin started…
THE the multi award-winning musical Come From Away comes to Plymouth Theatre Royal from 9th to 13th April, to the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton from 16th to 20th April and to Bristol Hippodrome from 20th to 31st August. The show is based on the real-life story of the 7,000 air passengers from all over the…
HAMILTON, the Lin Manuel Miranda show that shook and enthralled the world of stage musicals, starts its first UK tour in 2024, and in the following months visits three venues in the south and west. First stop in the region is at Bristol Hippodrome from 30th April to 22nd June 2024, and the tour returns…
STRODE Theatre at Street opened on 5th October 1963 with its first public event, a concert by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and marked the start of its diamond jubilee year with a return visit by the BSO on the actual 60th birthday. The theatre, which is part of Strode College and one of the…
… or Billy Howle, or Laura Carmichael, or Josh O’Connor, or Olivia Coleman, or Joseph Mawle or …. the list goes on and on. If you live in the South West, the chances are it might have been on stage at your local village hall, or maybe arts centre. All of them learned their stagecraft…
DOUGIE Scarfe, chief executive of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, will have been with the Poole-based regional orchestra for ten years this year – and the celebrations began in style when he was named Orchestra Manager of the Year at the ABO/Classical Music Awards in Leeds. This prestigious award recognises his work in championing inclusion and…
THE Ukrainian-born conductor Kirill Karabits will end his tenure as chief conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in summer 2024, after a remarkable 15-year partnership. But the relationship, which has been so successful, will continue with Karabits becoming the BSO’s Conductor Laureate and artistic director of the Voices from the East programme. Karabits is the…
THE Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has a new residency in Somerset, at Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre. The long-term relationship was announced on the eve of a BSO concert at the theatre in November. The new residency will provide greater access to world-class music for communities in Somerset when the theatre, which is managed by South Somerset District…
SOUTH Somerset District Council’s arts and entertainment service has been awarded almost £760,000 and National Portfolio Organisation status in the newly announced Arts Council England awards, covering the period from 2023 to 2026. Adam Burgan, the venues manager for the district, says: “Becoming an NPO for the Arts Council is a huge milestone in our…